New Pardini 32 ACP

[oldcaster]

Has anyone tried a new Pardini 32 ACP. All of my friends and I are waiting for others to take the plunge first and then report on how it works. We are mostly interested in what it will do with lead bullets because some of the ranges we compete at have a lead only policy. Everyone else must be waiting on my friends and I to take the plunge first so we could report. Who will blink first. -- Bill --

[Trooperjake]

The 32 auto is not new to international shooters, if you google for info on past posts you will come up with tons of forum posts.
Seems most gave up on the idea.
The thing that bothered me was The Pardini's shooter that fired a clean target on one stage, was only one target. They did not show any targets at 50 yards.
The other thing that bothered me was the Pardini rep said cheap ammo was available. Not true, most of what I found was around $16.00 to $18.00 per 50, not the $8.00 he said was available. And no match ammo. It also seems that you have to shoot jacket ammo only, I found no data for lead.
I was told John Zurek was waiting on one, have not heard anything further.

[oldcaster]

I also was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get lead bullets to be accurate and at a lot of indoor ranges they don't allow jacketed, plus they will be way more expensive. I think the smaller the caliber, the harder it is to get lead to be handloaded accurately in a pistol. I am just guessing but I think it is related to the idea that the smaller the brass case is the stiffer it is which makes consistant release of the bullet difficult to achieve. All of my friends get accurate results out of their 9mm Beretta FS guns with jacketed reloads but I don't think anyone is satisfied with lead yet and they have been experimenting for near two years. My 9 isn't finished yet and it will be my next project with lead.

[GunRunner]

Most of these international 32's wont group good at 50 yards, unless you change the barrel. I would not buy one to shoot outside bullseye unless Dave Wilson makes a replacement barrel for it.

[Trooperjake]

It suprises me that the european gun makers do not offer a slower twist model for American bullseye shooters. I would think we offer a fairly large market, it doesn' t cost them any more.
More shooters would buy them if offered.
I wish Dave Wilson charged less, $450.00 is a lot for just a barrel.
It is out of my reach.

[fc60]

Greetings,

I machined a barrel for a fellow forum member in 2009. The barrel shot well; but, the user pointed out that it destroyed extractors and had given up on the project. The pistol was a Pardini HP with a custom Shilen Ten twist barrel.

Attached are the test targets I fired at 50 yards.

Before you ask, NO, I will not machine any 32 ACP barrels.

Cheers,

Dave

[GOVTMODEL]

It suprises me that the european gun makers do not offer a slower twist model for American bullseye shooters. I would think we offer a fairly large market, it doesn' t cost them any more.
More shooters would buy them if offered.

a. A faster twist is what is needed to group well at 50 yards, not slower.

b. The USA is an inconsequential market for the makers of pistols designed for the ISSF Center Fire shooter, IMHO.

[oldcaster]

Most of the 32 long guns will shoot 32 ACP with round nose bullets. They are the same length as a 32 long with a flat wadcutter so the magazine is just right. I don't know if they will shoot very well because they aren't chambered for the short case. In order to change the barrel to proper 32 ACP dimensions it would just need to be cut off a bit with the extractor and feed ramp redone. I haven't looked at any drawings but the typical leade might be different for each cartridge. My guess is that the shorter case might be even harder to make accurate but easier to feed. -- Bill --

[Bob-Riegl]

A .32 is not a 50 yard calibre---if you up the powder on a Pardini it will eventually destroy the magazine (personal experience). Besides the .38 is notorious for tipping bullets at 50 yards so is the .32. The Pardini is designed for 25 metres, and makes an excellent 50ft. bullseye gun for Indoors---but fogeddaboudit for the Long Line....."Doc"

[oldcaster]

I don't buy the idea the 32 is not for the long line. I have shot many 10 shot 2 inch groups with my stock Benelli and Dave Wilson does better than I do. The .32 in a revolver can be incredibly accurate and were used for CF matches quite often before 1911's were improved enough to have sufficient accuracy. If you have tipping bullets in a .38 you are also shooting flat front wadcutters because I have never seen a SWC or round nose tip. The reasons HBWC's tip in a .38 are the same reasons they do it in a .32 however the .32 is harder to correct and more likely to cause problems. -- Bill --

[wjcksn]

The .32 is a nice toy if you've run out of things to buy, but at the end of the day, if you're gonna shoot the whole match, you gotta get friendly with your .45, so why not practice twice as much with it. I tried the .32 and found it finicky & expensive to load compared to my .45. And with the straight-back recoil of the Pardini, it didn't seem that it kicked much less than the .45 with a slide-mounted UltraDot, so where's the benefit. But if you need an excuse for another gun ...

[oldcaster]

The benifit is that it kicks straight back as you said, and not up. In timed and rapid fire, it stays right on target which is a tremendous advantage. I shoot my short line ammo at 500 fps also which would be a trick out of 45 because the 1911 has to unlock before the slide comes back and that takes recoil to do it plus the bullet weighs 100 grains instead of 200. The 32 is blowback just like a 22 and much less recoil is necessary to cock it. I shoot 2/3 of the match with a Benelli instead of 2/3 with a 45 which is an advantage and when I shoot 1800's indoors it is all shot with the same type of gun. I would guess the loads you were shooting in it were way too hot. Loading manuals are mostly for revolvers and some factory wadcutter loads are quite hot. If you do the math, my loads have to be less than half the recoil of the 45.

[wjcksn]

Ok if you don't have to shoot the .45. How's your .45 scores compared to the .32?

[Rover]

A switch away from HBWC to standard wad cutters shortens the bullet length and makes it more stable in a slower twist barrel. Costs you nothing to find out. "Fat" bullets are better.

[bdutton]

I talked to the guy from Pardini at Camp Perry. He told me they were working on a new barrel with the AMU to shoot 50 yards with the .32 acp. He said his test barrel show 1/2" groups at 50 yards.

He did also say that ammo would be cheaper but did not say how much to expect to pay for match grade ammo.

I have a .32 HP with the Dave Wilson barrel. I had lots of reliability issues with both match ammo from lapua and my own handloads.

HOWEVER: The handload reliability has improved when I dropped the powder charge from 1.7g BE to 1.4 and increased my crimp. The 1.7 was what Mr Wilson suggested I use for best results at 50 yards.

[GunRunner]

I have a Wilson barrel in my benelie and found it functions best with a good roll crimp and not the taper Mr. Wilson suggested. The accuracy at 50 yards is about the same using 1.5 Vit 310.

[oldcaster]

Rover, I tried some cast bullets that were 83 grains from a Magma mold and they were about the same accuracy as the 100 grain cast and HBWC's in accuracy. I haven't tried them since I caught on that my main problem was not expanding the case enough when loading because the 100 grain Saeco's are now quite accurate and it is a lot easier to make a good bullet with the Saeco mold than it is with the Magma. The whole concept of having a barrel with an inside diameter of .314 for a 32 long is the problem. The cases are difficult to enlarge enough to not swage a bullet even when using a .002 larger die to size the brass. If a large enough expander is used it is almost impossible to pull it back out of the case and it has to be hard on brass making them grow in length and they wind up growing uneven which is why I think the taper crimp would be a better option, however I have reliability problems also unless I roll crimp.

I finally finished my new .312 barrel and have it on my pistol and am patiently waiting for weather good enough for me to venture out and see what the results are as far as accuracy and reliability are concerned. I hope I won't have to trim brass any longer or use such a large expander and I have thousands of HBWC National bullets that are .312 also so I am hoping they will work because they aren't accurate in the .314 barrel.


Magma bullet 83 grains .410 length
Saeco 100 grain .505
National 100 grain HBWC .544

[Rover]

Hold your mouth right and good luck to you.

[Trooperjake]

Anyone use the speer bullets available from larry's?

[Trooperjake]

Forgot to include the Quality Cast Bullets, in Ohio.
I understand they are .313.